Ever since the beginning of time at ShowNearby, the tug-of-war between iPhone and Android has been inevitable leading to a diagnosis of the iDroid plague infecting the entire family at ShowNearby. This iDroid epidemic is indeed fatal and should not be taken lightly!

Nevertheless, 28th December 2010 marks a significant moment for ShowNearby and for the iPhone Team. From now on, ShowNearby on iPhone will no longer be marginalised by the accolades and hype received from their robotic counterparts. ShowNearby on iPhone has proved its worthiness by climbing all the way to top notch, among the 300,000 apps in the iTunes store, leaving our trademark UFO footprint as Number 1 for the Overall Top 25 Free Apps and also Number 1 for the What’s Hot Top Free Travel Category!

Here's proof....

Leading this great fightback is none other than Chief-in-Command CJ and his diligent apprentice Deepak. Of course, this revelation and breakthrough achievement would not be possible without the support and contribution from all our dear users, yOu, YoU and YOU out there! In fact, we have hit an all time high of daily downloads standing at 17,370 on 28th December 2010! TOTALLY AMAZING!

Take a moment to realize what it really means to be number 1. It means we out performed all the other free apps out there including the tons of really cool games, utility apps etc. We have been striving really hard for this position since we first launched our iPhone app in June 2010. But even in our wildest dreams, we didn't believe that we would achieve it so soon! Regardless, as honourable iPhoners, let’s not forget our praiseworthy Android opponent. Being the pioneer for ShowNearby, they no doubt had their fair share of memorable moments worthy of acknowledgment (and we chose to share none of it in this blogpost). Teehee!

The wait must have been painful... but one thing is for sure, it is all worthwhile!

Here's what we have to say:

After many of months of hard work and analysis of what our users really desire, we have made several improvements to our mobile applications. One of the key areas which concerned our users was data accuracy. Since July, the data team have been working tirelessly cleaning up each and every data entry in our database and verifying them with various sources to ensure that the information we provide to you are as accurate as possible.

We have also added new categories such Taxi Stand, Post Office, Payment Kiosk (SAM & AXS), Bar, Spa, Hair Salon, Cafe and many more. That's a lot of categories we have added but we are not done yet. Other hotly requested categories such as 24-hrs Clinic and Mail Boxes are coming your way soon.

Besides all these improvements, we thought of giving our users something to cheer about this Christmas. Have you ever wondered how great it would be if someone could tell you the latest promotions or sales happening around you? Look no further, ShowNearby is right here to bring you these tasty treats through our latest feature: ShowNearby Promotions. Based on your location, these promotions will only appear if you are in the area.

Red UFO = Promotions = Happy

In the next couple of weeks, more and more promotions will be added. More importantly, it will be neatly integrated with our mobile application as promotions will be indicated with a Red UFO icon in our category listings in Restaurant, Bar, Spa and etc. So stay tuned. Of course, don't expect any promotions to be available in the Bus Stops and ATMs category unless there are free newspapers from news stands or free money from ATMs?? Mmm, that would really happen if someone manages to break open an ATM =D (ShowNearby robbers?)

As Christmas is coming, there are many promotions we can take advantage of to maximise our time and stretch our penny. Even though it's the spirit of giving, we should still be smart with our wallets. So remember the next time you go out shopping along Orchard Road, do look at some of our categories in ShowNearby on your mobile phone. For all you know, we could be a Santa to you! Merry Christmas to one and all from all of us at ShowNearby!

A few weeks ago, we unveiled the first ShowMobile aka our very own ShowNearby Bus on the roads of Singapore. Yesterday we officially launched our second ShowMobile plying SBS Bus route 21. Derek Low, ShowNearby's lead designer, was there to witness his hard work turn to fruition. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he was heard whispering, "I can't believe this. It's such a beau. I am totally lost for words!".

Lost for words...

Beauty!

We totally understand how you feel, Derek. After all, this is the second series out of his six. Mmm... Let's do a spot the difference contest shall we?

Guess how many differences are there?

Lastly, if you were wondering where Bus 21 will take you, you can check out the SBS website which will probably give you this:

Or, you could simply look it up in the new ShowNearby Mobile app to find the bus service details in our latest version for Android, iPhone and BlackBerry! (Update: Bus details will not be available for iPhone and BlackBerry just yet!)

As this is still in beta, you will only be able to view the bus service details when clicking on the bus service number within the bus stop page. In future, we will integrate it with our search, and searching the bus service number will direct you to the details page.

We hope you like what we had in store for you in the latest update for the ShowNearby Mobile app. Do feel free to give us your valuable feedback as we continue to make improvements and make this application rock! In our next blog post, we will be highlighting the latest features we have implemented in ShowNearby Mobile app, so stay tuned!

It’s happening crazily in the United States. In a report “Are You a Trendy Consumer?” by Forbes.com, two very important yet growing trends have emerged during this shopping season in which consumers have utilized digital tools to carry out their purchases. With the advent of internet and mobile technology in retail marketing, tools like Groupon and Foursquare have dramatically changed consumer behavior, by providing information of the best deals through the community.

Community involvement and Group Purchasing
Whoever read the Sunday Times on 5th Dec probably came across the news of a Singapore-based company, Beeconomic, being acquired by American giant, Groupon, who almost got bought by Internet giant, Google, last week.

No doubt, the concept of gathering enough people to purchase a deal for it to exist has huge potential. With social networking becoming pervasive these days, generating interest within your community and friends can happen easily with just a click of a button. It is indeed heartening to see a Singapore start-up making headlines in the global arena! Well done, Beeconomic!

Location-based Shopping
Being subject matter experts in location-based services, this new form of shopping is certainly of huge interest to us. Just imagine wouldn’t it be awesome if we could list down the bargains and discounts around you. Facebook Places and Foursquare are all doing it well in the USA, but to have one with a local flavor in Singapore, I guess its up to us then! =D

At ShowNearby, we often push ourselves to deliver the best possible experience for people to benefit from the services we provide. Come mid-December, you will be surprised by the fantastic deals we have gotten for all our ShowNearby users. You can share it with your friends through Facebook, Twitter, SMS or other preferred ways of communication. Let the countdown begin!

Our first present to you! The ShowNearby Christmas doodle! If you do notice on our Facebook Page, we have actually changed our profile picture to reflect the spirit of Christmas. It’s the beautiful time of the year, and here at ShowNearby, we would like to share our wishes to all our fellow users.

ShowNearby Christmas Doodle

Ok, we realized this doesn't really count as a gift, so let's try again...

Some of you have asked if ShowNearby is ever going to update our mobile applications and what new features are in store. Yes, we are referring to you, Bernard, our loyal supporter who has given us many feedbacks on how we could improve. Thank you so much, Bernard!

Well the answer to the first question is YES! We are in the midst of baking something really sweet for all our iPhone, Android and BlackBerry users, and we will release it to the public all at the same time in the middle of December. Consider this the second Christmas present from ShowNearby to you!

With regards to the new features, we will leave it to you to find out in mid December ;) But if you are totally excited and anxious of what we have in the pipeline just for you, pay a little attention to our doodle. It’ll give you some indication. HOHOHO, Merry Christmas!

And because we are feeling generous, if you'll like another Christmas present from us, do stay tuned! No promises as yet but we just might hold a "competition" with ShowNearby merchandise up for grabs!

The ShowNearby Sleep Inducing Pillow**Actual Size :P

Hint: It involves the ShowNearby bus ads (aka ShowMobile) currently running on SBS bus service 14. Our loyal blog readers can probably already guess what we are going to do! (If you're not our loyal blog reader, we'll forgive you this time :P just check out our blogpost titled "The Showmobile" and be sure to follow our blog in future!)

Back in late October, we had the haze situation in Singapore which had caused some of our users to have breathing difficulties, running nose etc. and we suggested a few ways to avoid it. Well, one of the ideas that came to mind was to find the nearest Shopping Mall to hide in if the haze worsened. While we understand that this is not the most sophisticated medical solution available, we at ShowNearby do not believe in advanced healthcare technologies (mainly because we don't know how to build it :P).

Hence, we came up with this simple and elegant solution! Since we believe in leveraging on existing services and technology,we have decided to leverage on the multitudes of shopping malls available in our little island! Introducing.......

ShowNearby shopping malls!

Check it our under Manage Category!

Today, we are pleased to inform you that the wait is finally over. Throughout the whole of November we held an internal competition where all our staff went around scouring Singapore for mega malls, shopping malls and little malls out there, listing everyone of them in our database. (Was a pretty good excuse to get out of the office we might add...)

From now on, you will be able to find the nearest shopping mall wherever you are with just a click on our mobile application. Start adding it into your favorite list of categories!

The haze may have caught us off guard this time around, but if it returns, this time.....

This post comes a few days late seeing as how Thanksgiving has passed for about a week now. But it did take us sometime to gather our thoughts of 2010 and enumerate all the things we wanted to give thanks for.

Ahhh...Thanksgiving Day.... Primarily celebrated in USA and Canada, it is a day where families and friends gather to give thanks and we at ShowNearby practice this tradition too! It's time to reflect and give thanks for yet another very successful year for us. :)

It all started with ShowNearby Analytics where we worked with IDA Singapore to develop a web application targeted at home buyers and business owners looking for new locations to start businesses or settle down in. For over 6 months, we have gotten huge support from our partners and users. It was a wonderful experience for all of us at ShowNearby and we are looking forward to embark on another wonderful journey with IDA Singapore in the near future.

ShowNearby Analytics!

In June, we launched our very first ShowNearby for iPhone mobile application. Despite starting on Android at the very beginning, we have never forgotten about the iPhone users in Singapore. At ShowNearby, we envision to give the best location based services to all our smartphone users regardless of operating system. Since then, we have amassed over 100,000 downloads from the Apple Apps Store. It is simply amazing.

Shortly after that, we were in the headlines when Global Yellow Pages (GYP)invested in ShowNearby, promising a hefty sum of S$3.5 million. We are very pleased to be part of GYP as we complement one another to increase our product offerings and give value-added services to businesses and consumers alike.

Iphone and Blackberry for ShowNearby!

In September, we also launched ShowNearby for BlackBerry. No longer was ShowNearby exclusive to the fashionable iPhoners and geek green robots but also to the productive users of BlackBerry. To be honest, it wasn’t easy developing one for BlackBerry as we had only one (still one till today) developer in-charge of it, but hey… we made it. And we are proud to say that the ShowNearby mobile applications for the 3 different platforms are on par with one another in terms of features and functionalities.

Also in that month, ShowNearby was awarded the prestigious Asia's Top 10 Apps 2010 Award at SingTel Accelerate 2010! We were totally overwhelmed.

Top 10 Regional!!

As we head towards this busy tail end of the year, we would like to end the year on a very high note. Our very first bus advertisement is one such example where we wish to increase brand awareness of ShowNearby, letting people know the existence of an application on their mobile phone created for the community, by the community. We will also be rolling out a major update for our mobile application in all 3 platforms in the middle of December. You will be pleasantly surprised...

In closing, ShowNearby would really like to take this opportunity to express our deepest and sincerest thanks to all our ShowNearby users, partners, families and friends who have helped and contributed in one way or another to our success. We couldn’t possibly have done it without your unwavering support all these time. Thank you, thank you and thank you. With your continuous support, ShowNearby is confident to deliver better services and features to our users and value to our partners in the years to follow.

Introducing our very own ShowNearby Bus Advertisement! From here on out, all buses with ShowNearby advertisements will be affectionately called "ShowMobiles"!

Today is yet another major milestone for ShowNearby, a day where the entire ShowNearby Family gathered to unveil our very first ShowNearby Bus to the public! It was a joyous occasion for all of us as we look back at how ShowNearby has made the headlines frequently over the past few months. We believe this is yet another first for ShowNearby! The first mobile application company to have a bus advertisement! :)

The ShowMobile!

Plying SBS bus route 14, The ShowNearby Bus will travel through the heartlands of Bedok, passing by our office at Siglap, along the buzzing streets of downtown Orchard Road and back to another heartland in Clementi. In a way, this route epitomizes the vision of ShowNearby. A vision to provide a convenient and useful location based service to the Singaporean community. Whether is it information on bus timings, ATMs, promotions, or business listings… we will have something useful for you.

As we celebrate this wonderful occasion, we would like to take this opportunity to specially thank our very own ShowNearby Creative Designer, Derek Low, for making this possible after months of planning and designing of these fantastic bus advertisements. Indeed, coming up with a total of 6 different variations of bus designs was no mean feat. Well Done, Derek! And here's more pictures of the ShowMobile!

To all our ShowNeaby users, do keep a lookout for all 6 of our ShowMobiles during this festive season. If you take a very nice picture of a ShowMobile and yourself posing together, do tag us on Facebook. You will certainly receive a pleasant surprise from us, we promise! Christmas is coming; we wouldn’t mind being Santa this year in the spirit of giving ;)

Have you rode the ShowMobile?

PS: Feel free to give us feedback or improvements on the designs of the bus advertisement! We have another 5 buses hitting the road soon and we are more than willing to ask Derek to redesign another 20-500 times ;)

With our mobile application becoming ever so popular in Singapore these days, we have noticed a spike in the number of feedbacks and queries from our dear users. It is really amazing to receive so many feedbacks from you all, and sometimes it can be quite overwhelming. In such cases, our replies to our users might not be as quick as we would have like, and we know how frustrating that can be.

Considering the number of new and cool features we will be rolling out gradually in the next couple of weeks, the PR Team have specially compiled and created a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Mobile section, consisting both general and device-specific (iPhone, Android and BlackBerry) questions. This will definitely ease our anxious and eager users, and for the rest, the FAQ pages will certainly serve as your first line of help before you drop us a mail.

Burning Questions :D

Don't be mistaken, we totally love your feedbacks, all your requests and all your comments be it positive or negative ones. And we really wished we had the resources to continue answering each and every single one within a couple of hours but sometimes that might not be possible.

It is through this feedback channel that we understand your needs as we challenge ourselves to give the best possible experience to all our users when using ShowNearby on their mobile phones.

We will continue to update these pages to keep our users abreast with the latest issues that some of you are experiencing. Do check them out, yea. Once again, thank you for supporting ShowNearby as we look forward to serve you better in future.

From the PR Team.

Updates: The links to the FAQ pages will be included in our next release of ShowNearby on Mobile for all three platforms. :D